Chapter thirty-three
VOLUNTARY WORK
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Chapter thirty-threeVOLUNTARY WORK |
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Note: This is the original text of the chapter in the 1992 book and it has not been updated. Page numbers refer to pages in the book.
Many YPAs are involved in voluntary work of some sort, and find it a very fulfilling way of making the most of their talents within any limitations imposed by their arthritis. Volunteering can give you a purpose in life, and the great feeling that you're doing something worthwhile. Sometimes voluntary work can lead to a paid job, too, and it's a good way of showing a prospective employer that you have valuable skills and commitment.
What sort of things do YPAs do? Someone from ARC came to talk at a WI meeting that Pamela Waterhouse went to, and she found things snowballed:
"Don't be too disheartened by the effort you have to put into getting the right sort of help: Out of the 100 or so women there, our WI president pounced on me to give the vote of thanks. Well, those few words changed the course of my life! The speaker approached me afterwards and asked if I could start a group locally. I wrote an appeal for help in our parish magazine and was overwhelmed by the response. The group was officially formed in July. The Mayor-elect is our Chairman and I'm the secretary which keeps me extremely busy. It's a wonderful feeling to be doing something positive at last… We now have over 60 members. Last month we held a committee dinner to celebrate raising £1,200 for research in just seven months."
Jacqueline Senior spent many years living with the ups and downs of RA. She and her doctor recently tried out a new drug. – After a shaky start they found the right dose, and "hey presto!" she felt so well she
"rejoined the WRVS and joined a team who go to the local prison to serve tea and coffee etc to the prison visitors. Then in October I was asked to go to a local day centre to help out in the shop. It was lovely to feel useful again and to get out and about to meet people."
Barry Hayward volunteered to work on his local hospital radio:
"I became a ward visitor at first but due to a lack of presenters I soon got the chance to appear on one of the programmes. This was a 'magazine' type programme where I read the news and featured a recipe of the week. I pretended to make the recipes 'on the air', whilst all I was actually doing was banging a saucepan and spoon together now and then. It sounded quite good though, and the studio stayed clean!… I now host my own programme called 'All in a Week' in which I look at the news of the previous week and play both old and new records…" (In Contact)
Some YPAs get involved with local action groups or with the local church. Doing voluntary work doesn't necessarily mean you have to be physically energetic. One YPA, more or less confined to a wheelchair, was able to use her skills as an active founder member of the local Dial-a-Ride and Crossroads Care Attendant Schemes: "The Lord really made sure I was in the right place at the right time." Another wheelchair-using YPA teaches creative writing to adults with learning difficulties. Some YPAs work for their local DIAL information service (mainly on the phone). Others work for the Samaritans, or in the local Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB). I enjoyed helping at the local CAB at one time, all sitting-down and phone work. Relate (formerly the Marriage Guidance Council), needs not only volunteer counsellors, but also volunteers to staff the telephone and reception points, so too does the WRVS. Or how about offering to record newspaper and magazine articles on cassette for the Talking Newspapers Association? Or become an adult literacy tutor, teaching basic reading, writing and arithmetic to mature people in your home? (See Adult Literacy in Appendix 2).
If your arthritis is too unpredictable you might find it more sensible to avoid committing yourself to any specific task, but there's still lots you can do. If nothing else, do make 'educating' other people about arthritis your cause! Goodness knows they do need educating. Just sitting here with my ankle in plaster I managed to have a go at that – taking part in a radio phone-in, writing letters to newspapers, etc.
Far from being a barrier to doing voluntary work, your arthritis or disability could be a positive asset. Peter Stubbings, in a paper produced for The Volunteer Centre UK, New Resources for Old Tasks: Disabled People as Volunteers (now out of print), pointed out how some apparent disadvantages of disablement can be turned into advantages:
"Apart from any individual attributes, disabled people in general may have these among their assets:
- immobility, which can be translated into the capacity to be in the same place for fixed periods
- time itself, a crushing burden for many disabled people when there is nothing to fill it, but a scarce commodity in modern life
- patience, very often stemming from experience of having to be patient
- motivation to work to escape the routine of inactivity
- experience of being dependent on someone else, all too rare among people who give care or service
- sensitivity stemming from experience of one's own or other people's suffering
- often, a high development of unimpaired faculties, such as… hearing or speech
- highly organised routine, making for reliability."
A wheelchair-user with MS described in MS Bulletin what she does:
"In the corner where I sit by the window where I can keep an eye on the world passing by, there is a digital telephone on one side and an entry phone on the other. Here, I am able to act as a co-ordinator for my local community care group, receiving calls and passing them on for action by volunteers. I also act as an answerphone for a friend who is a professional photographer out a lot on assignments wanting someone to take his incoming calls."
If you want more ideas, try your local Council for Voluntary Service or Volunteer Bureau. If there isn't one in the phone book, ask your CAB, or contact the National Association of Volunteer Bureaux or the National Association of Councils for Voluntary Service.